Back from Manila we went to Check out the battle memorials along the old only paved road to the Negev, today's Hwy 232 to Shderot and farther south along the Gaza Strip.The intersection north of Negba with Hwy 35, the road from Ashkelon to Hebron is called Givati and the two first memorials are for the 54th Battalion on the west side and 52th Battalion a kilometer south on the east side.
Hill 138.5 meter is another kilometer south and about two kilometer west of Hwy 232. Pictures below others in the next batch.
This pictures where the memorial still does not show Tzfrira's boyfriend, Shlomo Benari, name rather the PALMACH 2nd Battalion (Tzfrira and Shlomo were in the 1st Battalion, my brother in the 3rd) in any event in October 1948 it was the IDF regardless what we think about the PALMACH… Igaal Alon was the Front CO and Rabin the Operation Officer. Whet I found heart warming was that Dead Sea Works Choo-Choo train with potash to the port of Ashdod was chugging along Hill 138.5 m 65 years later. I concur with the Givati statement – when you head south remember us. Note the group of twenty motorcycles visiting (only visitors) on Hill 138.5 m – I doubt they had any idea about the hill's historical value but they sure enjoyed running through the mud puddles in the 2 km dirt road leading to the hill.
We headed south through Shderot, Nechal Oz, Tzalim and Ravivim to Bir Asloge's (near Mashabai Sede) 40c Hot Springs remembering the kids that 68 years ago had balls big enough to settle 11 forts in the area. Time has sure changed.
Tzfrira's boyfriend Shalomo Benari is listed on the PALMACH's Yiftach Brigade memorial at the Beit Kamah Junction (vs. Mishmar Ha'Negev
נועם >אלבום צילומי אנדרטאות במהלך הסיור
שלמה בנארי > מקום קבורתו בקיבוץ משמר הנגב
נפל בקרב ההתקפה הנגדית שנכשלה באוקטובר 1948 על משלטי חוליקאת
נועם מירז:בית העלמין במשמר הנגב – אתר עצוב
There is memorial in the Mishmar Ha'Negev cemetery at all; the place is isolated and not cared for. The 700 or so inhabitants on private terms are overshadowed by the 70k or more people in Rahat. The pictures tell the story of one of the 11 that settled the Negev on October 1946.
Noam.
תמונות:
Yftach Memorial, Be'er Sheva and the Dead Sea Works
to geyzi:
Yair wrote that he remembers Shlomo Benari from Vav Street Ally toward the new Beit Ha'Am and also Jonathan Levinson (1st column 7th down), whose younger sister Yair dated in 1952, that was when you guys enlisted to the IDF.
The Yoftach memorial states that it was for the 1st and 3rd Battalions that saw actions from the Upper Galilee to the Negev. Your brother, I believe, fell in Lahvot HaBashan early in 1948, Eliezer was wounded in Lod, Danny Operation July 12th. Once at Nabi Yusha (the 28 Fort) Eliezer said that between him and his wife, Dina of Jerusalem, they knew half of the 28.
I do not have more detail, I trust that Yair knows, but Eliezer was in Fallujah Pocket after he recuperated, doing intelligence work for Yigaal Alon, the CO, and Rabin, who was the operations officer.
I found the view from Hill 138.5 amazing – the green scenery where the Dead Sea Works potash (ashlag in Hebrew) train was chugging to the port of Ashdod. Also the dates, Hwy 232 was cleared October 19/20th 1948 and Be'er Sheva taken October 21st.